Luis Velez Essays - Geography Of Asia, Tibet, Asia, Western China

Luis Velez David Eichler World Civilization: China Cultural Paper 10/10/2016 The Tibetans / Zang The Tibetans are a Chinese ethnic group who first settled in the Yarlung Zangbo River in Tibet around the 6th century. They currently number an estimate of 7.8 million. Significant Tibetan minorities also live outside of Tibet Autonomous Region inChina, and inIndia, Nepal, andBhutan. Tibetans speak differentlanguages, many varieties of which areequally incoherent spoken by approximately 8 million people. They belong to the Tibeto-Burman languages. The traditional, or fabled, explanation of the Tibetan people's origin is that they are the descendants of the humanPha Trelgen Changchup Sempa. It is thought that most of the Tibet-speakers in Southwest China, including the Tibetans, are direct descendants from theancient Qiang.Most Tibetans practiceBuddhism, though some observe the nativeBonreligion and there is also minorMuslim group. Tibetan religion influencesart, drama, and architecture, while the harshgeography of Tibethas produced an adaptive culture ofTibetan medicineand cuisine. An earlier study in 2010 suggested that the majority of the Tibetan people may have derived from the Han around 3,000 years ago. However, there are prospects of much earlier human descendants of Tibetians, and these early residents may have contributed to the present Tibetan genetics. Historical documents have proven that the leader of the Yarlung Tribe declared himself as the "Zambo" or king of the tribe, thus initiating the first direct contact between the Tibetians and the Han people, including other ethnic groups in China. The Kingdom of Tibet began to have recurrent contact with the Tang Dynasty in 1618 and the Tibetan and Han peoples started to mutually benefit from each other through trade and other cultural exchanges . As for religion, most Tibetans generally practice Tibetan Buddhismor a collection of local customs known asBon. There is also a small group of Muslims and Christians, but it represents only a small fraction of the entire population. One interesting aspect of their religion is the existence of the prayer wheel, which is a religious artifact seen amongst Tibetan people. Today, Tibetans can be observed inserting Mani stonesprominently in public places.Lamas also play a role in the lives of the Tibetan people, leading religious rites and residing in the monasteries. The Tibetan people are recognized for their diverse culture. For example, Tibetan artis deeply religious in nature, from the divinely made statues found in Gonpas to wooden carvings and the complex designs of theThangkapaintings. Tibetan art can be observed in practically every object and aspect of daily life. The Tibetan opera, also known aslhamo,is a mixture of dances, hymns and songs. The list is derived from Buddhist tales and Tibetan history. Their architecture is influenced by many other ethnic groups including primarily the Han, but it is also unique in itself. Many of the buildings and monasteries are built on elevated, bright sites facing the south. They are usually made of a combination of rocks, wood, and cement. Limited energy is available for heating or lighting, so roofs are made on a flat surface to conserve warmth, and several windows are employed. Walls are also usually inclined inwards at 10 degrees as a protection against recurrent earthquakes in the hilly area. Ti betan homes are white-washed on the outside, and beautifully decorated inside. Tibet has been occupied and taken over by China and the Chinese People's Liberation Army since 1951 with the purpose of fully destroying the Tibet's identity as a group. This has regularly been denominated by the people of Tibet as a cultural genocide. Eight years of resistance of the government and repression led to the Tibetan Uprising of 1959, in which Tibetans protested in an attempt to overthrow the Chinese regime; instead, the uprising led to the fleeing of HH the Fourteenth Dalai Lama into India, where he has been living since. A few hundred Tibetans originally followed the 14th Dalai Lama into exile, and since then hundreds of thousands have followed. Then, in the late 1980s, pressures between Tibet and the Chinese Armed Forces increased until violence peaked with the losses of many protesting Tibetans by police fire. Other protests for the exiled Dalai Lama and pro-liberty (such as the march in Tiananmen Square in Beijing) received worldwide attention and made Tibetan religious devotion equal to radical views in the eyes of the